


Grow With You

by dreamydami



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Childhood Friends, F/F, Fluff, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Slow Burn, Soulmates, YoungK just mentioned, brisua just in passing, sungjin cameo, super slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26252014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamydami/pseuds/dreamydami
Summary: Bora, Handong, Yoohyeon, and Yubin used to be inseparable. And then they grew apart. Growth does a lot of things to you, and sometimes these are the most beautiful things that could ever happen to you.
Relationships: Han Dong | Handong/Kim Bora | SuA, Kim Yoohyeon/Lee Yoobin | Dami
Comments: 18
Kudos: 43
Collections: DreamCatcher Taylor Swift Ficfest 2k20, Dreamcatcher fanfics





	1. Untouchable like a distant diamond sky

**Author's Note:**

> So, I don’t know what happened. I was gonna write two one shots for each of the songs that I got assigned with, but here’s a 5-chapter su2yoodong I guess?
> 
> Leave me comments and/or queries at https://curiouscat.me/crajee4jenyer!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _How long has it exactly been? Four years. Four long, cold years since Yubin set foot home. Back in high school and their childhood neighborhood, it has always been Yoohyeon, Yubin, and Bora. One does not exist without the other two. Until Handong arrived in the second week of high school as a foreign student, and the party became four and was inseparable for years. But when you grow older, a lot of things change._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Untouchable like a distant diamond sky**  
>  I'm reaching out and I just can't tell you why

“Bora… I can’t write anything. I don’t know why. I feel like my brain has dried up! No words, no feelings. Zero inspiration!!!” Yoohyeon says as she slumps her head on the fall rack of a white grand piano sitting in a corner of a sunroom. Her sunroom. She had recently bought a glass-walled house as a fruit of her hard work for the last two years. Sometimes she stares out the greenery visible from her walls inside and thinks about how fortunate she is for having made a name in a drowning sea of forgettable artists.

Her last five albums made her name known throughout her whole country, and it got her recognition worldwide from getting number ones across all streaming platforms, battling even Taylor Swift’s songs! Her latest hit songs, arguably, “Amazing” and “1997” managed to carve her name and solidify her foothold of the title “Nation’s Number One Girl” as the songs stayed at number 1 and 2 on all local music platforms for three whole months. Now going on four.

In other words, she has it made. She has her own world with roses and rainbows.

“You? Have a brain? I find that very hard to believe.” Bora retorts from the other side of the piano as Yoohyeon groans, her head still stapled down with frustration. Bora was drinking her iced americano at 5:30PM, watching the red and yellow melt with each other on the horizon, her back against the luxurious piano.

Bora’s phone beeps. She unlocks it and her eyes crawl along the words on her screen with a smile.

“Ugh, I know who that is.” Yoohyeon’s eyes rolled, not because of the person who texted her best friend.

“You don’t know everything about me.” Bora’s tone was annoyed but thankful, pleased to have a best friend like Yoohyeon (she just doesn’t tell her).

“Okay, but it’s Handong who messaged. I know I’m right.” Yoohyeon is right. Not that it’s hard of a guess, but Bora only replies to Handong in a blink of an eye (except for work-related things). “When are you ever going to tell her?”

“That? She’s beautiful? She knows that. Besides, what’s the use? She won’t be staying here forever.” Bora sounds sharp. Handong, the only woman she has ever had her eyes on. She says only woman, because her last relationship was with the sole heir of their country’s biggest shipment company, Brian Kang, with whom she had a very messy break-up with. She swears she will never date anyone under the constant public eye because break-ups are messy no matter what happens -- messy for the feelings, for the heart, and for the memories. “Besides, she has a girlfriend right now. That Minji who owns a chain of conglomerate firms for models and luxury brands. She gives Handong everything and I wouldn’t imagine a break-up. They also look too good together, don’t you think?” Bitterness swells in Bora’s tongue.

“I don’t know. I’ve never met them, remember? It was just you that night. But for what it’s worth, I think you’re prettier than her girlfriend. Just shorter. A lot shorter.” Yoohyeon finally smiles, frustration slowly walking away as she sees her best friend sneering from across her, attempting to throw her her drink.

“Remember, that’s my only flaw. Also remember how I have a line of men and women waiting for me. They don’t care about my height.” Bora is always confident in all sorts of things, but never when it comes to Handong.

“Yeah but none of them is the person you’ve been wanting since you were sixteen.” Yoohyeon gives Bora her bitter pill, too big and too true to swallow. “It’s like that gadget you’ve always wanted since you were a kid. You grow up and earn money, but it isn't available anymore by the time you can afford it. So you buy all other devices to try and match up with that one that you’ve always wanted, but you know it will never be the same.”

“Yeah, whatever, fuck you. I’ll be here tomorrow at 6AM for your interview at 9AM.” This tone was Yoohyeon’s manager talking, not her best friend. 

“Oh, the home lifestyle magazine? Isn’t it on the 4th?”  
“We moved it tomorrow since the company has decided for you to meet composers and writers to help you with your next album.” Bora starts drinking everything on a whim as she picks up her bag and tucks her phone in her back pocket.

“Wait, were you meaning to just tell me that since you got here? You even watched me write a few lines just to scratch them completely?”

“I wanted to see if we really needed to get you some help.” Bora opens her bag and picks up a red shade of lipstick, “And we do.”

“You mean you wanted to see me suffer. Right.” Yoohyeon inspects her best friend’s choice of shade. “Oh shit, you’re gonna get laid tonight, huh. You even drank coffee when it’s almost night.”

“Sex with Brian is the best, so.”

“Ew. Go away. This gay doesn’t want to hear that.”

“6AM tomorrow! Make sure to take a bath!”

“Leave!!!!!”

Yoohyeon takes a deep breath as the red has almost halfway melted, the skies getting darker as the longer hand in the clock keeps running. She opens her personal Instagram account and pulls down her screen to refresh.

**leedami_:** _Wheels down!_

A picture of an airport runway is in the post. Yoohyeon goes through her friend’s account and the next photo is of her feet up on her luggage with a caption, “ _Home, back to you._ ” Yoohyeon’s heart rushes like the wheels of an airplane, too fast and too ready to fly away from the ground. 

Lee Yubin is home.

***

How long has it exactly been? Four years. Four long, cold years since Yubin set foot home. Back in high school and their childhood neighborhood, it has always been Yoohyeon, Yubin, and Bora. One does not exist without the other two. Until Handong arrived in the second week of high school as a foreign student, and the party became four and was inseparable for years. But when you grow older, a lot of things change.

Yubin went to Europe with a scholarship while the three stayed home in different universities. Yubin took up Music Studies, Yoohyeon Performing Arts, Handong Financial Management, and Bora Advertising. While the three remained closely-knit throughout the distance during college, Yubin had to work her awful best to reach her dreams. She had to stop missing home, she had to stop longing for her friends, and she had to not feel anything. Numbness was her friend.

She hasn’t allowed herself to feel anything for four years but now that she’s home and Yoohyeon is all over the country, how will she not be able to feel anything?

***

It was their last night together as four -- Yubin, Yoohyeon, Handong, Bora. Their names and bodies always next to each other up to seemingly no end.

“Congratulations to our batch valedictorian!!!” Bora, as always, screamed on top of her head with happiness as she raised a piece of pizza from a box of thin-crust pepperoni.

“Congratulations to the nerd!” Yoohyeon looked at Yubin, teasing with her tongue out.

“Excuse me, Miss Salutatorian,” Handong started, “You are a nerd yourself.”

“I had to be. You know my dad.” 

“Hey, we all have to be happy tonight, okay? Tomorrow Yubin flies to Europe and god knows when we’ll see her again!” Bora picked up the low mood and threw it out the window. It was their best friend’s farewell party, and she knows how Yubin hates emotional goodbyes.

“Oh you’ll really never see me again. I will do my best to not contact you.” Yubin’s words pierced through their hearts, and then silence fell.

“Dude...” Bora said with a frown, her face long with eyes sparkling, almost in tears.

“What? If I talk to you guys all the time, I’ll just be sad and would want to go home. I won’t be able to finish my studies.” Yubin was actually serious.

“Is this real?” There was disbelief in Yoohyeon’s voice, fear growing in her skin.

Fear, primarily because a life without Yubin is foreign territory to her. It would feel like swimming in an ocean with her eyes closed, trudging through deep waters in pure blindness. 

“And you just told me this now? You think I’d react well to that? You think that would be easy to deal with?” Yoohyeon got up from her comfortable chair in the garden of her family’s house and ran to the furthest corner her eyes could reach. Yubin, of course, ran after her. Yoohyeon’s back stood taller in front of her best friend, and the salutatorian had no plans of facing her any time soon.

“Yoohyeon, show me your face, please. I’m off to another continent tomorrow.” 

“How dare you ask that of me when you basically said that you just want to forget about us!” 

“That’s not--”

“It _is_ what you meant!”

In the background, Bora was wiping her tears and Handong was squeezing her cute hands as they looked into each other’s eyes. They can’t imagine meeting up during semester breaks and not having Yubin around.

Yoohyeon’s chest felt heavy, and then the heaving followed as the tears started to pour out like a river. It was Yubin’s cue to hug her from the back, sweet yet painful as their embrace gets tighter.

“I’m sorry. I promise I will never forget everything we had. But right now, my priority is the scholarship. As you should prioritize yours.”

Yoohyeon clasps Yubin’s hands, her arms around her waist still warm yet already starting to feel cold as Yoohyeon imagines a Friday night without a Yubin watching movies with her. And then count the number of Fridays in one year… in two… in three… There’s a whole ton of snow falling down on her on a summer night. She stops the thoughts and tries to live in the moment. The moment where Yubin’s arms are around her and her face is against her back, her warmth rushing around her body.

  
  


“Whether you wait for me or not, I _will_ come home to you.”


	2. When you're close I feel like coming undone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"...she closes her eyes and remembers the Instagram posts she saw five days ago. She has memorized every detail of it -- the flare of the lights on the runway, the shade of blackness of the exposed sky, the stars illuminating against the dark."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Burning brighter than the sun  
>  **And when you're close I feel like coming undone**
> 
> tw // abusive relationship

“Wake up!” Bora was screaming at Yoohyeon’s piercing-full ear at 7:54AM. 

By 8:05 she was removing the duvet that Yoohyeon had refused to unwrap herself from.

“You have a meeting today with a producer. Come on. Don’t be a diva!”

“I just had a meeting last night…. That’s the 8th this week. Give me a break!” Yoohyeon’s words were muffled but being friends for seemingly a lifetime is a bonus for events like this. It is also advantageous if you work as her manager.

“Kim Yoohyeon, Pie is missing.”

“What?! Where?! She was-- she’s here. Fuck you.” Pie was right beside her.

“No, fuck you. You’ll be late. HMUA team is outside.”

“God. You’re so annoying. Fine. I’ll be out in thirty minutes.” Yooohyeon was only half-awake, so saying that she’ll finish showering in thirty minutes is questionable (she showers for at least 45 minutes). 

As she showers with rain-like water pouring on her head, following the beautiful shape of her figure, she closes her eyes and remembers the Instagram posts she saw five days ago. She has memorized every detail of it -- the flare of the lights on the runway, the shade of blackness of the exposed sky, the stars illuminating against the dark. Yubin has been cold and quiet for four years, and even her long arms are still too short to reach out to her. Since her Instagram account creation, she has only posted four photos. One of a music sheet, the other of a bookstore in London, and the two others from her latest posts. If Bora didn’t push Yoohyeon to follow Yubin on Instagram a year ago, she would have left the account untouched. She is on the fence because she misses her best friend so much. Will she make contact? Will she wait until they naturally bump into each other? She doesn’t even know how long she is home for.

“Kim Yoohyeon! It’s been an hour!”  
“Yeah I’m done I’m done!”

_I’ll figure this out later,_ she whispers to herself.

***

Bora, Yoohyeon, and their company’s CEO walk into a luxurious Korean restaurant. The table they were approaching has a slender woman with an average height, talking to someone on the phone while standing up. And just as if they were able to read each other’s minds, the woman turns around the same time as the three individuals reach the table.

Bora smiles, more mischievous than sweet.

Yoohyeon’s jaw drops, not just to the floor, but to the dirt of the soil at the core of the earth. 

“Hi! Good morning! Perfect time for brunch.” Yubin offers a handshake to all three of them. Yoohyeon is the last one to shake her hand, and the superstar’s hand felt like ice. The half-second moment where their skins met, sent electricity to Yoohyeon. She was so tense that she didn’t even notice that she recoiled her hand at the touch. “S-sorry,” Yubin bows a little and smiles.

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Lee! Shall we eat first before we get down to business?” The CEO looked like an adorable uncle who gives you teddy bears and chocolates on your birthdays and Christmas days.

“Sounds good to me!”

Yubin was enthusiastically speaking to the CEO while Yoohyeon was gripping Bora’s hand so hard that she had to step on her foot a bit to warn her to cool down.

Their best friend, cold and quiet for four years now, fiery and alive as she talks about her credentials to the CEO. She was wearing a blue suit, sporting blue highlights with her auburn pixie-cut hair. Her skin is milky white and her smiles are too bright. The curve on her lips beautifully paint through their laughs, and the careful looks that get exchanged between the composer and the singer. 

They finish the last serving of beef, and they end their lunch with handshakes and thankful bows.

“Thank you for meeting with us, Ms. Lee. We appreciate your time and I guess it would be fun to work with someone of the same age as you.”

Yubin smiles to her ears as she steals glances at Yoohyeon, “Of course!” Yubin offers her hand again.

“Actually…” Yoohyeon holds her breath as Bora starts, “We actually know each other from high school.” Yubin’s eyes flicker like a broken lightbulb.

“Oh, is that so? Why have I never heard of this during lunch? Then this is some kind of reunion? Are you excited, Yoohyeon?” The CEO meant well, but Yoohyeon was filled with confusion. She stutters, “Y-yes! Yes I am.”

Yubin’s car arrives as the valet brings it to where they are. She offers her hand again to the three of them and leaves Yoohyeon speechless, Yubin’s smile piercing through her heart. She gives a tip to the valet man and settles inside her car, fastens her seatbelt, and breathes in deep.

She steps on the accelerator slowly as she heaves out steadily, “Hello, you.” She peeks at the rear view mirror for a split second, smiles to herself but with somber eyes.

She drives through familiar yet foreign streets and alleyways, finding her way back to an apartment she has started to rent around Gangnam. She parks her white Hyundai Grandeur and turns off the engine, stares at her windshield and inhales deeply. She remembers how her skin felt against hers after four long years, warm and happy with a hint of coldness. She exhales through her mouth, gets out of her car, and walks to her apartment’s door. Her phone rings. She inhales deeply again.

“Yubin?” Yoohyeon starts.

***

The manager-artist duo reach Yoohyeon’s home. There wasn’t a word said throughout the whole drive from the restaurant to the parking lot, and Bora hates the silence. Yoohyeon gets out of the car first and walks hurriedly to her couch, her manager tailing her. Her eyes round and still in shock, not believing what had just happened at lunch today. Bora sits beside her.

“You knew? All this time?” 

“There was no way you would push through with it if I had told you.”

“You could have told me what to expect. Like, expect a ghost show up, something like that.”

Yoohyeon isn’t mad, she is more on confused and her mind is in knots.

“I’m sorry I kept this a secret. She reached out first. To me. When the company posted the notice that they’re hiring composers and songwriters.”

“I actually knew she was back.” Yoohyeon confesses.

“I know. Instagram. Bitch posts once a year or two, of course we notice.” 

Bora gets a text. Her face folds and as usual, it’s Handong.

“Wait… Are you okay?” Bora’s question is rhetorical at this point.

“Was it Handong?” Yoohyeon tries to shift the attention to her best friend slash manager.

“Yeah, she… uh… needs a place to stay.”

“What? What happened?” Yoohyeon finally faces Bora as she hands her her phone.

_ Bb I need space from Minji and everything. Can I stay with you for a few days? I can’t get a place right now because I have nothing. I would have asked Yoohyeon but I know she’s busy. I also can’t tell my Mom and ask for money because you know what might happen. I don’t wanna go home. _

“Well, you can’t say no to that. Handong running to you is like one of your wildest dreams.”

Bora rolls her eyes but she knows she’s right. She will never get tired of her. Not when she has bottled up her feelings all these years, never knowing when she’ll be able to open that bottle and pour all of it out. Or if she even has to.

“What are you doing here then? Call her! I’ll be fine. I might even talk to _her_.”

“Stay calm, okay?” Bora says as she stands up.

“You, too.”

Bora leaves her house, almost running, and drives away.

Yoohyeon picks up her phone and scrolls at the old number she has of Yubin.


	3. I'm a mess but I'm the mess that you wanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Lips were bitten and tongues were slipping, making out as if their bodies were talking, conversing through their heaving breaths and their low moans._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, I loved you in spite of  
> Deep fears that the world would divide us  
> So, baby, can we dance?  
> Oh, through an avalanche? And  
> Say, say that we got it  
>  **I'm a mess, but I'm the mess that you wanted**  
>  Oh, 'cause it's gravity  
> Oh, keeping you with me

“Kim Yoohyeon?” Bora barges into the artist’s home studio as she vibes to DAY6’s Zombie.

Yoohyeon’s eyes widen with confusion because today is her rare rest day and Bora knows more than to disrupt Yoohyeon’s free day.

“Watcha doing here?” Yoohyeon asks after taking a bite of her favorite sandwich as she takes off her huge headphones. 

“Wow. Sandwich. Since when did you stop eating chips for breakfast?”

There was silence. Yoohyeon was smiling through the edges of her lips.

“Dude????” Bora attempted to keep a straight face as she was about to deliver a serious matter to their prized artist, but she can’t hide her excitement after witnessing what happened in Yoohyeon’s car yesterday. Which she hasn’t confronted Yoohyeon about.

“Yeah… Uh... Yubin stayed over…” Yoohyeon’s voice turns sweet, hopeful and happy as she remembers how beautiful Yubin looked like with her features glowing against the sun. It’s all she has ever wanted -- a beautiful morning, a smiling sun, and Yubin by her side. It took her weeks to accept that her long-lost best friend is finally in front of her, working day and night for her next album. There was never a talk about what happened, or why she never even tried making contact at least once. There was no discussion of how empty Yoohyeon felt for the first two years, no talking about how Yubin would monitor Yoohyeon’s success and the amount of strength it took for her to not reach out so she wouldn’t complicate things while she was still away. There was a mutual understanding, an amazing connection, that now that Yubin is home, they could just continue where they left off.

Bora’s jaw drops to the floor. “Did you-- have sex?!?! Finally??! After how many years!?!? Of trying so hard to hide your feelings??!?!”

“No!! We were just watching a series after working and I decided to make her sleep here. It was 3AM!”

“Yeah, on your bed, with this view,” Bora points at the reflective mirror walls that Yoohyeon has around her room with a view of the sea and all shades of blue. It’s romantic, it ‘sets the mood’ as per Handong. “I am never gonna believe that nothing happened. After _years_ of pining??”

“It will be complicated if that happens.”

  
  


What Yoohyeon wouldn’t tell her best friend is that _something_ happened.

After watching The Stranger and a couple of glasses of red wine, Yoohyeon’s heart started protesting over her head, trying to ask for dominance _for once._ It won.

Yoohyeon grabs Yubin by her face gently, a contrast to their tough and passionate kisses, seemingly conveying every single word she wanted to tell her all those years. Lips were bitten and tongues were slipping (inside their mouths), making out as if their bodies were talking, conversing through their heaving breaths and their low moans. Pulling back from the intense kiss, they inhale heavily as Yubin pushes Yoohyeon down on her king-sized bed. She starts pecking lightly Yoohyeon’s forehead, down to her nose, to her lips, to her chin, and very slowly on her neck. She goes back up to Yoohyeon’s beautiful face, locking lips again, gentle as their hands perfectly intertwine with one another. Yubin retreats her lips, their kisses fleeting but never their feelings.

  
  


“Okay fine, we kissed.” Yoohyeon confesses, a hint of excitement flashing through her face.

“You can’t lie to me,” Bora is proud, but also very happy for this progress. “I saw you two yesterday. In the car.”

“What??” Yoohyeon tries to play dumb, fails immensely.

“Don’t play dumb. You know what I’m talking about.”

“Fine. And what?”

“Nothing. Just be careful. You have fans from every single corner of this country. And if they see you with Yubin fixing your hair like _that_!”

“What like _that_?” Yoohyeon is genuinely curious.

“ _That_ way, like, _‘fixing your hair’_ but it’s just her staring at your face. And then her hand from your hair to your cheeks and then she cups your chin?!?!?!? If you were an ice you would have already melted!”

“I--” 

“And on that line, I want you to be careful because you have a dating scandal.”

“ _A WHAT?!?!?_ ”

**HEADLINE: NATION’S NUMBER ONE YOOHYEON SEEN DISGUISED WITH A MALE IDOL**

The first news that shows up when she goes on Twitter.

“What the f--” Bora cuts Yoohyeon, “Yeah, what the fuck, right? So, who was this? And when?”

“Uh, that was Sungjin. I met up with him to tell him that I’m not available for dating. Because he won’t stop texting!”

“Okay… Is this not a matter for me and you to discuss?” Bora is deeply concerned, as dating scandals is one of the things their industry would love to avoid at all costs.

“I mean-” Bora’s phone rings.

While Bora is on the phone, Yoohyeon imagines all the worst case scenarios. The people who are probably shipping her with the idol already, Sungjin thinking he has an ounce of hope, and Yubin. Yubin with whom she has shared a kiss with, her best friend, her soulmate.

“That was the CEO. He told me to not answer any press and we’ll let the issue drag on.”  
“For what?!”

“Geez, Yoohyeon. You literally are in a hosting show together! Of course it would be nice for the public to see that you and him are getting along.”

“I don’t like that. My fans like me for being my genuine self. But… okay. But the time he starts bugging me again, you will have to tell the CEO that I want to release a statement about denying this.”

“Okay, sure. I’ll also talk to Sungjin’s manager.” Bora reassures. She knows she can appease her.

“Okay, thank you.”

***

_Yubin: Yo, got any popcorn left?_

_Yoohyeon: Nope_

_Yubin: Wth, you have a very beautiful house but you don’t have any popcorn?!?!?_

_Yoohyeon: I forgot to buy because i was looking for boxes of snickers_

_Yoohyeon: :D_

_Yubin: Okay. Cute. Fine._

_Yubin: Be there in 15. Just picking up snacks that you DO NOT have_

_Yoohyeon :P Get here already_

_Yoohyeon: Get me my drinks!_

_Yubin: Duh of course_

  
  


Yubin is definitely making up for the lost time. She would bring Yoohyeon food whenever she’s home, spend time with her and Pie, eat dinner with her as much as her schedules permit, watch movies and series in her room like old days… But there’s something missing. She can’t pinpoint it just yet, but there’s something missing.

  
  


“Do you want this movie?” Yoohyeon asks, scrolling through her television as Yubin hands her a glass of water.

“Horror? Are you kidding me? I’m gonna walk out right now.”

“Noooooo!” Yoohyeon stops Yubin by hugging her by the waist, warm enough to catch Yubin unguarded, tight enough for no one to let go.

There was silence, the dim lights and their beating hearts. Yubin’s heart wants to scream out loud, but her mind suddenly forgets that words exist.

“So? What movie, then?” Yubin faces the television, not minding the pair of arms hugging her warmly. At the back of her mind, she doesn’t want her to let go. “I’m feeling classic-y. The Breakfast Club?” 

“And watch a character constantly harass a woman?” Yoohyeon retorts. She has always been this well-educated, and Yubin winces in pain as she sees the adorable pout on the other’s face. “All right, fine. Something… I don’t know, bold,” Yubin is running out of ideas to keep Yoohyeon close to her skin. “Oh here, how about Perfume?”

“Ooh, creepy weird shit. My type.” Yoohyeon finally frees Yubin from the hug and the latter acts as if dusting the part where Yoohyeon hugged her. 

“Really?!” Yubin looks at her, bewildered but playful.

“Ha-ha. Funny.”

“Why?! I was just asking!” Yubin was already at the light switch, it’s her job. “Turning it off!” 

“Okay!!!!” 

The movie starts and the two share one huge blanket. The smaller girl has the perfect height for when she leans her head on the taller one’s shoulder. Yoohyeon feels Yubin’s head, adjusts her shoulder, and lays her own head on Yubin’s. 

  
  


“Hey…” It hasn’t even been thirty minutes into the movie, and Yubin already has other things in mind.

“Yes?” Yoohyeon asks, eyes on the TV and her head on Yubin’s voice.

“There are a lot of shippers. Of you and that idol.”

“Ohh, yeah. Yeah. Did you see the news?” Yoohyeon’s voice suddenly muted.

“More like, what else did I see?” Yubin’s voice is, as always, calm but with a shadow of apprehension.

“That’s fake, Yubs. I met him because I told him to stop talking to me.”  
“Huh? Why?”

“He’s been annoying. So I told him that I’m not available to be in a relationship.”

“You aren’t?” Yubin feels the chills in her spine after she blurted those words out mindlessly. The air is filled with tension and you can hear nothing but the faint sounds coming from the television.

“I’ve always been available. For you. Just you.”

***

“Bora… Bora…”

“Dong??”

“Yeah…” Someone grabs Handong’s phone and she hears the faint annoyance in the voice of her best friend. Or the love of her life.

“Uh, hi, are you Handong’s friend whom she lives with? Could you come pick her up?”

“Uh, y-yeah. What happened to her? And where is this place?”

“Art Monster. And if you could please hurry. She’s really drunk.”

“Okay. I’ll be there.” 

Bora quickly grabs a coat and her everyday sling bag where all her essentials are in. She hops inside her car and revs it up hastily, her mind just worried sick about Handong. She turns on her phone at a traffic light and leaves Yoohyeon a voice message.

_“I don’t know what happened to Handong but she’s drunk and I’m picking her up. If you need anything urgent please call Minnie.”_

Bora has to wait for a reply to be sure that her message was received, but Yoohyeon is _busy_. That voice message goes straight to nowhere and will be left unheard until the morning. Bora huffs impatiently and as the traffic light turns green, her wheels sprint towards Dongie the same way her thoughts run away from the truth.

The truth is that, whenever they do sleepovers when they were sixteen, she would close her eyes and fall asleep trying her best to not hold Handong’s hand or imagine how her lips feel on her own. That she will keep loving her until it hurts. That she’s fine not telling her, she can endure admiring her from afar. She’s used to keeping the truth, even to herself at times.

  
  
  


“Hi! I’m Bora.” She introduces herself to Handong’s model friends, all pretty and luxurious-looking.

“Oh, hi. I’m the one who called you earlier. Elkie.” This one particularly looks gorgeous and stunning.

“HI, Elkie. So where is she?” 

Elkie points to Handong, body bent trying to vomit all the alcohol she had that night.

“She had too much to drink and we didn’t know she didn’t have dinner prior. Then people kept buying her drinks so she drank everything! Is your friend okay?” 

“I guess she just wanted some fun time. You know…”

A woman with a fitted black dress with a high slit passed by. Kim Minji. She has someone by her hand and judging by how their hands are intertwined, is her girlfriend.

“Good bye, ladies! Take care!” 

“Oh.” Bora mutters.

“Yeah,” Elkie easily understood. “Take her home now, please. We don’t want Minji to see her like this.”

“A-ah, yeah.”

As if she was lightning, she runs to where Handong is, covers her with her coat, and puts her arm around her body.

“D-dongie? Let’s go home?” 

“W-what? W-why! You havwent had a drinkkkkk yet!” 

“I don’t need alcohol, Dongdong. Let’s go home, yeah?”

“Mmmm~”

On the way home, Handong was still in a sing-songy mood. She hums various songs and even dances, but on the last traffic light before they reach home, her eyes shut steady and fall asleep peacefully.

Bora stares at the beauty, her soft yet sharp features that pierce through her heart. Her beautiful lips, her flawless skin… Bora’s hand unconsciously crawls towards one of Handong’s hands, feels the warm of it, and clasps it. Electricity rushing through all of her veins until a honk is heard from the back of her car. The traffic light has turned green.

She retracts her hand, but Handong is still sound asleep.

  
  
  


They finally reach home and Bora does her best to clean Handong up. Bora lays her on her (pull-out) bed, and she steps out to clean herself. She looks at her phone to check if there’s any response, but there is none. She cleans up herself and lays on her bed, breathes deeply, and thinks about how her mind has betrayed her by unconsciously touching the hand she wants to touch the most.

_Ugghhh fuck._

And then she hears Handong vomiting and she has to wake up from her thoughts. After cleaning Handong and her bed, she has no choice but to let her sleep beside her bed. She turns away from where she can see Handong’s face, heart racing and mind running. She can’t handle a Handong sleeping in the same room as her, what more sleeping _beside_ her.

And then there’s an arm around her, the gap between them getting closer and closer, until there was none.

“I’ve missed you,” 

What was Bora supposed to say?

“Uh-” 

Handong’s arm feels tighter, skin warmer, her heart beating faster.

“I’m Bora, not Minji,”

“I know. And I’m telling you. I have miss you.”

Bora closes her eyes and inhales deeply, her hand searching for Handong’s, her heart thinking if it’s right to hold her hand as they sleep. 

Slowly, gently, their skins burn against each other, their hands melt together. The searching stops once their hands have found the perfect fit, like two pieces in a puzzle perfect together in every corner.

Bora _finally_ decides to be bold and upfront. She clasps Handong’s hand tight, tears fighting their way to fall heavily like a thunderstorm. This warmth is all she has ever wanted. Handong’s breath against her nape, the feeling trickling down to her spine and then to her whole body. Her inhales and exhales sounding like symphony in Bora’s ears.

As warmth fills their bodies, the cold truth starts seeping into Bora’s eyes, tears uncontrollably falling and she doesn’t even know the reason. Is she crying because she’s happy? Is she crying because she knows when the sun arrives, this hug will no longer be here? Is she crying because she wants to stop the time for this moment to last longer, but she can’t?

She has no idea. But as her whimpering starts getting louder, Handong hugs her even closer, giving her back supple little kisses that send shivers throughout her whole body.

“Let’s sleep,” Handong whispers. “I’ll still be here when you wake up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't be shy to leave a comment! :)


	4. Could've spent forever with your hands in my pockets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _All she could think about were the kisses. The kisses that ran from her neck, traveled slowly to her shoulder and the burning feeling when a pair of lips started caressing her back._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Could've spent forever with your hands in my pockets**  
>  Picture of your face in an invisible locket  
> And darling, you had turned my bed into a secret oasis

Bora keeps her eyes straight, does her best to concentrate on the wheel as she drives empty-headed towards where her muscles tell her to go. She tries to forget everything that happened before she decided to get up, take a shower, and drive away at 6:30 in the morning on a weekend.

All she could think about were the kisses.

The kisses that ran from her neck, traveled slowly to her shoulder and the burning feeling when a pair of lips started caressing her back. She remembers the way Handong’s balmy lips touched her chest, sucking and leaving purple marks all over her.

_Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did you let her use you? You know you’re not the one she wants._

Her phone rings.

_“Bora? Good morning!”_ Yoohyeon greets, happiness audible through the call.

 _“Hey. You’re up early?”_ Bora’s voice is lethargic, her words almost fading.

Yoohyeon switches to FaceTime and Yubin is there, beside their Nation’s Number One.

_“Oh. Hello. Of course you’re there.”_

_“Ha-ha.”_ Yubin sounds shy, her voice a bit hoarse. 

_“Why do you sound like that? You okay? You spent too much time naked now your voice is weird.”_ Bora would always, always tease the two.

 _“Dude why are you even talking to me? The person you need is right here.”_ Yubin leaves the frame and Yoohyeon takes the phone for herself.  
  


 _“So? What happened? Why did you suddenly transfer me to Minnie last night?”_ Yoohyeon’s smile is nothing she has seen before -- vivid, content, besotted. She no longer has a lost smile, like a long lost treasure has finally made its way back to her.

Yoohyeon is happy.

_“Right. I’ll tell you when I get to your place? Can I visit? Do you have breakfast?”_

_“Yes, of course. I’m not letting her eat shitty food. Look at her fridge.”_ Yubin screams over as Yoohyeon shows her refrigerator full of healthy food.

_“Good. Thanks for taking care of the child, Yubin.”_

_“See you!!”_ Yoohyeon waves, her eyes smiling through the screen.

The call is dropped and she smiles through the morning sun, bright and beautiful against the light carefully touching her skin. She thinks to herself, it’s still surreal that Yubin is back home and that their pining has finally stopped. Suddenly she starts worrying, because she knows that anyone starting a relationship with someone constantly under the public eye is one of the bravest decisions someone could have made their whole life. But then again, it’s Yubin and Yoohyeon, her two best friends who have loved each other since they were kids and if they don’t end up together, then the world is not meant for happiness.

And then her phone rings again. This time, it’s Handong.

She listens to her ring tone like it’s a fucking symphony, the notes going in and out of her ears as she replays how it felt when Handong was touching her. It was also a test of strength, an assessment of her self-respect and until how long she could endure not answering to Handong’s needs.

The ringing stops. But the thoughts about Handong will never.

She parks her car upon reaching Yoohyeon’s house, turning off the engine, and unfastening her seatbelt. She looks through her phone and reads one message that stood out.

_Handong: You’re gone?_

Her heart starts racing, sprinting like it’s a marathon and not stopping anytime. She wants to show herself that she’s strong enough to not do anything other than ignore Handong. She turns off her phone as she steps out of her car, pressing the doorbell before she opens Yoohyeon’s house.

Two smiling, happy faces greet her with breakfast as she makes herself comfortable in the living room.

“So what happened?” Yoohyeon and Yubin sit across from their friend, looking like it’s a counselling session. Yubin sits with her legs crossed, sipping iced coffee with one hand and playing with Yoohyeon’s fingers with the other.

“Are you really gonna talk to me while you’re all over each other?”

“ _This_ was four years in the making… Start talking.” Yoohyeon smiles at her with her stupid smile as Yubin’s lips curve upwards, tightening her hold on the taller girl. “Sorry, not sorry.” Yoohyeon grabs Yubin’s arm and snuggles it tight.

“Fine. Okay. So… Handong.” Bora starts.

“Oh, you’re still on the same dance huh.” Yubin cuts in. With everything that Yoohyeon told her about Bora and Handong, this is basically a rhetorical question.

“Let me finish!!” Bora laughs nervously, still kind of out of her wits. “So Handong. I picked her up yesterday from their company party. She was super drunk. Puked everywhere, even her bed that’s a pull-out from mine.”

Bora breathes in, recollects her emotion and exhales, gets ready to tell her best friends the narrative of her complicated night.

“So I asked her to just sleep on my bed because of the puke right, and we had our own sides. I thought she was asleep because she smelled like alcohol. And then I suddenly felt a hand hugging me and next thing I know… She was on top of me, and no one had clothes on.”

“So you. Had sex. With your dream woman?” Yoohyeon stands up and removes her fingers entangled with Yubin’s, walks slowly towards Bora and then sits beside her. “Is that right?”

  
“I had sex with _our_ best friend.” Bora sighs loudly, her brain still muddled. “I had sex with her even if I knew she was drunk as fuck, even if I knew she was still broken-hearted. Even if I knew it wasn’t me who she wanted but I’m just… weak. For her.”

Bora’s tears start falling slowly, then her emotions spill all at once.

“You can’t be too hard on yourself, dude. _We_ know how you could and would sacrifice everything for her.” Yoohyeon gently rubs Bora’s back and looks up at Yubin who is currently pouring water for their friend. “Have you spoken since?”

“No. I couldn’t sleep after so I just stared at my ceiling and then laughed at myself. So I drove up here so someone could catch me.”

“She hasn’t texted or anything?” Yubin asks, handing Bora a glass of water.

“She called and texted but I didn’t reply. Then I turned my phone off.” And then there is silence when Bora starts eating.

“She texted a ‘You’re gone’ with a question mark and I panicked, so.”

“I think you should eat first. Right, Yoohyeon?”

“Right, yeah, of course. We should talk when you’re not hungry.”

Bora digresses, continues to talk about how her life has been since Handong started living with her and how she has realized it will forever be an unrequited love. And she’s okay with that. Never in her wildest dreams would she imagine Handong would undress her and then kiss her after.

“I think you have to tell her how you really feel. Like, tell her how you’ve been yearning for her since the first time you set eyes on her. Confess, once and for all. And who knows? You said she initiated it.” Yubin was spitting one advice after another. Seems she’s done a lot of thinking in four years.

“Yes, she did. Under the influence of alcohol.”

“And when she woke up, she started looking for you.” Yoohyeon nodded, supporting Yubin’s advice that someone has to confess between the two of them and of course, it’s Bora. 

  
  


Before leaving Yoohyeon’s house, Bora hugs her and Yubin (just a bit, because Yubin isn’t a hugger except for Yoohyeon), thanking both of them for always being the people she can run to at any time.

Her mind runs faster than her car can handle, words lining up as her thoughts keep filling up. If she can handle all these feelings and remember how to say them in front of Handong is another question that she can’t answer herself.

  
  


And then she’s home. Handong is on the couch in front of the television, her face beautifully asleep as Bora carefully closes the door. Handong flinches and Bora tiptoes across the living room so she could get to her bedroom quietly. She sits on the foot of her bed and sighs heavily. She can see that Handong had washed up the bed sheet she vomited on.

_Please keep sleeping._

Bora starts removing her clothes, and for a moment forgets about the woman she’s been trying to hide from a couple of steps away. Living alone for five years, she has been used to not locking her bedroom door. When she is already half-way done removing her bra, her door unlocks and opens wide.

“Oh! Wait!” Bora exclaims.

“I’ve seen everything.” Handong tries her best not to look, but Bora’s bare back is very inviting, tempting for her lips to dive and slide on. 

_Er, fuck._

Her eyes slowly shift from Bora’s skin to the floor when she turns around, her white shirt hugging the figure and silhouette of her breasts.

_Again, fuck._

“Sorry. I’m leaving now. I just got something from my bag.” Handong attempts to leave in a hurry.

“Hey, Dong. Have you eaten anything?”

“I’m not really in the mood to eat. Alcohol hates me.”

“No. You hate alcohol but you had to drink a lot last night because of Minji.”

Bora tried to stop her mouth but before she could even hold her tongue, the cat was already out of the bag.

“No? It’s not about Minji. She’s an abuser and a leech who takes and takes and takes so that when you’re left with nothing, you cry for her name and she starts shitting on you for everything she’s given you. If I could’ve gotten away earlier, I would have.”

Handong’s eyes are welling with tears, heavy and almost pouring.

“Then why did you get drunk like that?”

“Because there’s something I need to tell my best friend that if I wasn’t so weak, I think we would be happy together.”

Bora’s heart almost stops. Handong is deeply in love with someone? Her best friend? But who is this? Is it Yoohyeon? Yubin? Was she secretly in contact with her all these years?

“I have always been weak. But you always push me to be the strongest person I’ve been.”

“Dong, it’s the least that I can do.”

“No, you don’t understand.”

Handong drags her feet towards the smaller woman whose certain scent is intoxicating, messing up with the confidence and strength she has mustered to be able to open up.

“I text and call you a lot because I want to. I think you make me feel the most amazing person in the world. You’re always good to me and you never turn back on anything for me.”

“Yeah, be--”

“Sshh. Me first. And I think you’re amazing and beautiful and sexy in more ways than one.”

Bora is breathing harder than she should.

“Last night wasn’t an accident. I wasn’t just drunk or anything. I _really_ wanted you.”

  
  


***

It’s the annual music awards show. Everyone looks forward to this event because they see their idols dressed up in either lavishly outrageous outfits or simplistic and elegant dresses. Yoohyeon is usually the latter, and she started the trend of wearing unadorned yet luxurious-looking dresses, making it a hot topic when she first attended the said show. The next year, the public saw more idols sporting the similar, if not the same, design as what Yoohyeon wore last year. 

A whole row is always reserved for Yoohyeon and her guests. This year, they’ll have to add one more seat because Yoohyeon is taking Sungjin for this event. It’s the first time she’ll be bringing someone as her date, and it’s a huge thing for both the media and the shippers.

  
  


And now it’s the event night. Yoohyeon’s red carpet has Sungjin assisting her in any way he can, his arm folded so as Yoohyeon can hold on to it so she doesn’t trip or injure herself. Everyone knows she’s clumsy with the number of times she almost fell face-flat as she walks up the stage to receive her award.

Yoohyeon is wearing a one-piece elegant fitted royal blue dress with a slit up to her left knee and Sungjin almost the same shade of blue suit. Of course, their companies talked about this. They have to be the dazzling couple of the night. At the side, Yubin has on a black pin-stripe three-piece suit and a royal blue handkerchief on her suit pocket. Bora is wearing a black beaded dress with a few sequins that make her look even more sophisticated than intended.

Yubin’s eyes follow the two as they walk through the long red carpet, feeling the shadows and figures as people smile as the perfect couple walks along. She felt self-conscious, thinking the press might catch her eyes monitoring a little too hard. She turns her head down and pulls Bora closer to her.

“Hey?” Bora is audibly confused, her eyes looking at Yubin whose eyes are facing the ground.

“I don’t want any complications. The press might see my eyes.”

“What’s with your eyes?”

Yubin doesn’t answer. She doesn’t want to admit that she is _finally_ feeling jealousy. She was supposed to be cold and cool.

“Oh. You’re jealous. Because you can’t walk her down like that.” 

“Yeah. Whatever. I mean, it’s fine. It’s for work.”

“Yeah, repeat that to yourself so you don’t act weird, okay?”

Yubin relaxes her arm around Bora and finally lifts up her face. She and Bora start walking, entering the place through another door that isn’t for celebrities.

“Why didn’t you bring Handong?”  
“She’s kinda busy.”

“Is she really leaving us for good?”

“This isn’t the time and place to whisper about these things.”

Yubin retracts and finally arrives at where Yoohyeon’s guests are supposed to be seated. The star was sitting silent awkwardly, not talking to her date. Yubin marvels at her side profile, her nose, her half-smile, her almond-shaped eyes that look at her lovingly every morning and every night. And then she faces them as the two try to find their seats on the same row.

The event has begun, and Yubin’s eyes would only be fixed at Yoohyeon. Sometimes at Sungjin who would occasionally try to make Yoohyeon laugh, but most of the time she was just waiting for Yoohyeon to look at her.

And then they catch each other’s eyes, the brief solitude as their eyes lock onto each other, making them feel as if it’s just the two of them existing in the whole word. In a sea of eyes focused on looking at Yoohyeon, she only has hers for Yubin. Through the lenses and millions of words talking about the star artist’s real life, Yoohyeon knows there is only one truth, that Yubin is the only one for her.

Yoohyeon stands up to receive her Best Female Soloist of the Year award, and Yubin follows her with her eyes, wishing she would be the one to bring Yoohyeon up the stage. Alas, it’s not something she could do in front of a thousand viewers. Sungjin helps her up and brings her to the steps of the stage, and Yoohyeon is given her award as soon as she reaches the microphone. 

“ _Thank you. To everyone who made everything happen. Thank you for all the efforts. I know my fans are all tired from all the streaming every day and night, international and local fanbases uniting for this achievement. This award is not for me, but it’s for all of you. This has certainly surpassed my wishes, and I don’t know how I could repay you for this.”_

And then Yoohyeon puts her award down, hides it at the back of her dress.

_“You know, I once had a treasure in my hands. It was beautiful and I got attached to it with an out-of-this-world connection. And then I lost it, all of a sudden. Then after years of blindly waiting, it found me. And the treasure maintains to be the most beautiful thing I have ever had in my entire life.”_

Yubin resonates with everything Yoohyeon said. Yes, it was her. It was a message that Yoohyeon wanted to tell her person with the guise of a message to her fans.

_“I am telling you this because I want you to keep pursuing anything and everything that makes you happy. If it hurts you once, I’m sure it will make you happy again as long as you maintain your love and burning passion for it.”_

Yoohyeon’s words felt like music to Yubin’s ears, as if Yoohyeon’s notes are the melody to Yubin’s lyrics. They were slow dancing together with a melody only they created, inside a burning room that will eat them up to pieces, ashes and dust finishing them after. But they refuse to be burned once again, making sure they’ll hop off the fire to save themselves quickly.

“ _Thank you everyone. Keep the fire burning!”_

The last line was taken from her last song, about catching fire and then burning you with it, so you have to manage how to handle the heat of fire.

Yoohyeon’s eyes pan over to Yubin, shining and glittering as everyone claps for Yoohyeon’s speech. She leaves the stage and finally walks down. But of course, Yoohyeon almost trips over as she walks through the stage. Yubin almost stands up as her eyes grow wider. Bora is there to control Yubin, and then looks over at her worried best friend.

“Sit down.” Bora says with a hushed voice.

Sungjin rushes over to Yoohyeon and helps her stand up, fans screaming over their screens as the two look like a damsel in distress with her knight in shining armor.

But Yoohyeon doesn’t need a knight, she isn’t a damsel in distress either. She just wants someone with whom she can dance with her whole life, no matter if the room is burning or not.

She just wants to hold Yubin’s hand through the coldness, because she knows Yubin will do the same through the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes, again, don't be shy to leave comments :)


	5. It's like a million little stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Promise all four of us will stick together through thick and thin.” Bora says with a myriad emotions in her voice._

Bora comes home after a long night, drained and has zero muse to do anything. She slumps herself on the sofa in her living room and drops the bag on the floor. Handong rushes out from the bedroom with a worried face.

“Bora?! Are you okay?!”

Handong turns the lights on and finds a passed out Bora on the sofa.

  
“Yeah. I’m fine. How was your night?”

Handong sits beside Bora’s head and starts stroking her long locks and massaging her head.

“I cooked something if you’re hungry.”  
“I just got home from a party, Dong. You’re cute.”

“I know. You, too.”

Bora looks at Handong, eyes heavy yet still with twinkle. Handong traces with her eyes the shadow of Bora’s curves from head to toe, as if tattooing it into her mind.

“I have to remember all of _this._ ” Handong traces Bora’s figure with her pointing finger and Bora grabs that pointing hand and clasps it close to her chest.

“You will not forget it, Dong. We will do our best.”

“I just don’t think the universe is fair to us.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just hate that I feel like I never have any control in my life. With Minji, it was like prison. With my parents, well, you know how irrationally strict they could get. I don’t understand why dad suddenly wants me to come home when he has already disowned me. And now he wants me home because he can’t handle the load? And suddenly he wants me to take over? You know how we moved out here so my dad could run away from his responsibilities, losing all of the friends and the life we had back back then. But when my grandfather died, he had no choice but to go home because he failed making his name on his own and the business will not run on its own. And now that I have my own life and I’m out here doing my thing, he wants me to leave this country, this life, just because he wants me to. He didn’t even tell me that Mom had been sick until he needed me home. What kind of a father is he?!” Bora lifts a finger over Handong’s mouth and sits up, hugs her tight and clasps their two hands together.

“Sshhh. You’re in constant communication with your mom but she never told you about it, right? Maybe because she just doesn’t want you to worry.” 

“I know. But I’m also just pissed because we just got on the same page, and then suddenly, I have to leave. And I thought my dad doesn’t have a child anymore? It is so easy to say no to my dad, but not to my mom. And I wanted you to be beside me all the time. And this just _sucks. A lot._ ”

“I will visit you. Okay? We will carve out a plan eventually. But let’s do it one step at a time. Get your life back as the only daughter and sole heir of Han Industries,” Bora says with great pride in an attempt to make Handong feel a bit better, “and I promise you I will be there for you. We’ve waited too long to let each other go.”

Handong sighs, heaving painful breaths as she leans her head on Bora’s chest. And then she starts crying, Bora’s dress dampened by as Handong is in despair.

“Have you packed yet?”

“I’ve been packing all day.”

“Remember to pack a shirt of mine so you remember my scent.”

Handong now cries even harder and Bora couldn’t hold her tears any longer. They shed tears for something they have had full control for years but they chose the moon instead of the person trying to reach it for them.

“We _will_ be together. We just need time.” Bora reassures.

“We’ve wasted too much time. I don’t wanna let you go again!”

“I will _always_ hold on tight. I promise.”

***

Yoohyeon was seated on the bean bag placed inside her glass-walled balcony, Yubin’s head on her lap, hands clasped tight together. Yoohyeon enjoys champagne as they both watch the sunset beckoning upon their faces. Her house being by the sea, enjoys the cool breeze especially when it turns dark. The wind suddenly feels too cold for their skins, Yubin shivering a bit as Yoohyeon rubs her hand on her arm.

“Too cold?”

Yubin grabs Yoohyeon’s hand that’s rubbing her arm, clasps it, and kisses the back of it. 

“It’s fine out here.” Yubin is probably lying, but she knows Yoohyeon loves scenes like this -- the running wind stinging skins, hand holding another, the red and orange marrying the blue.

Yoohyeon doesn’t reply, instead she looks down at the small face on her lap and memorizes every crease of it.

“Yubin…?”

“Hmm?” Yubin doesn’t open her eyes but holds Yoohyeon’s hand tighter.

“What are we?”

“I don’t know? What are we?” Yubin answers in jest.

“After how many years, do we still need that? Do you still need assurance?”

Yubin sits up and Yoohyeon pulls her hands away.

“It’s not that. That’s not what I meant. I just… want to be official.”

“Official as what?”

“I don’t know, what are we?” Yoohyeon’s voice sounds vulnerable, tears imminent.

Yubin smiles as she tugs on her left pocket.

“We are soulmates.” The s-word hits differently when it’s Yubin saying it. “And you will be in my life for a long, long time.” 

Yubin pulls out a white gold necklace laying on Yubin’s hand and forearm, the chain looking like a number of thin ropes stuck together to form a thick rope chain. The necklace has a pendant, an empty oval-shaped locket where one can put two photos in it.

“This rope symbolizes our long period of push and pull,” Yubin opens the lobster claw clasp of the jewelry and moves closer to Yoohyeon, “And when we finally met each other again, it became thicker, harder to do the push and pull, making us just naturally stick together instead of doing the tiring push and pull again.” Yubin takes out her phone and captures Yoohyeon slowly crying, and then laughing as Yubin laughs at her crying face. “The rope also symbolizes that we get to ignite fire easily, the two of us, as ropes are mostly easy to be burned. But we promise to not let each other burn through it, instead we are roped together to do everything as one team.” 

Yubin puts down her phone and starts wiping Yoohyeon’s tears with her hands, “And then for the locket, just put anything you want.” 

Yoohyeon throws herself to Yubin, body and soul one and together as the hug gets deeper and tighter, their emotions profound. 

“I just want to be able to call you my girlfriend.” Yoohyeon says through her tears, voice almost begging.

“I think we’ve been in love with each other too long that you can call me anything you want.” Yubin pulls away from the hug, their hands enjoined, their love making them feel better than anything has ever done in this world.

“I love you. And I wish I was able to say this earlier, but I think the timing right now is perfect, with everything that’s happened and is happening to our lives.” 

The two stand up and Yubin leads Yoohyeon to lean on the glass wall of her balcony, her hands around her waist, their foreheads touching.

“I will dance with you whenever and wherever. For as long as we could.”

Yoohyeon tastes like sweet champagne and Yubin savors it deeper, exchanging breaths as Yubin’s arms tighten around Yoohyeon’s waist. The heat from their bodies, the cold breeze of the night, and the splendor of the orange sky against the blue sea, everything perfect as their lips exchange passion as the tang of the sea breezes through them. The kiss is something they have never done before, torrid and fiery as Yubin’s hand starts to slide inside Yoohyeon’s top.

“Let’s go inside.” Yoohyeon proposes.

“No, we can’t, Yoo,”

“What? Why?”

“Did you forget we’re bringing Handong to the airport soon?”

And then Pie comes running to the both of them, her eyes looking kind of scared. And then there were footsteps coming to them, the fearful eyes telling them who had arrived.

“Hey, bitches! I’ve been calling you for thirty minutes now, but you never picked up once. So I let us in with the power of being your manager.”

Bora arrives with a pair of comfortable tracksuit, Handong holding her hand who is sporting a smart casual outfit. Bora sees the beautiful jewelry around Yoohyeon’s neck, and the quick-witted manager-slash-best friend comments.

“Beautiful necklace. Someone is in the locket?”

Yoohyeon tugs on the pendant of her new necklace and smiles as she shyly answers, “There is supposed to be one.”

“Yeah, okay, let’s talk about that later.” Bora comments, her voice unsure.

Yoohyeon grabs Yubin’s hand to make her feel safe, Handong smiling as their palms graze one another’s.

“Finally, you two.” Handong jests.

“Finally, you two, also.” Yoohyeon returns.

“So, wine or something? Before we bring Dong to the airport? Yubin starts, she always knows what to do when the group suddenly falls silent.

“I’ll have champagne,” Bora answers, her grip on Handong tightening, as these last few hours before Handong boards their private jet would be the ones they will forever replay in their minds until their skins get to touch again.

“Okay, Dong?”

“Red is fine, thanks.”

“Okay, and beer for Yoohyeon and chocolate milk for me. Be right back.”

“She really navigates this house as if it’s hers,” Bora comments as Handong laughs and hugs her woman, rubbing her nose on Bora’s head as if drowning herself with her scent.

“I mean, Bora, you know what I had to go through. And now she’s finally here.” Handong was trying to kiss Bora’s temple, and then her ear, and Yoohyeon gets the message.

“Yubin is taking so long, I’ll just help her with the alcohol, okay?”

  
  


As soon as Yoohyeon steps out, Handong kisses Bora and grabs her body by the waist, gently biting her lips as Bora moans softly.

“I’m gonna miss you,” Handong whispers in between breaths and Bora starts crying.

“I’m gonna miss you, too, badly.” And the two are now crying their hearts out until Yubin and Yoohyeon step in.

“Hey, group hug, come here,” Yoohyeon suggests and she and Yubin just look at each other with regretful faces.

“I’ll tour China, okay? And make sure to leave your schedule open so we could all meet.”

“Yeah, it’s not like you two are never gonna see each other again. There’s FaceTime. Or LINE, I don’t know, whatever works in China.” Yubin is trying to make them feel better as she rubs their backs with her warm hands.

“Promise all four of us will stick together through thick and thin.” Bora says with a myriad emotions in her voice.

“I know I’ll stick with her,” Yubin looks at Yoohyeon, their smiles eternal.

“As I’ve said, Dong, we will get there. Okay?” Bora hugs Handong tight, trying to tattoo this specific moment into their minds. Bora trying to print and replicate into her mind how Handong smells like, how it feels around her arms as she hugs her tighter, and how her touch feels as their tepid skins meet as one.

“We'll have each other for life, and we will grow together. All of us. I’m sure of it. Okay?" Yoohyeon reassures the people that means a lot to her, her friends, her family that she chose for herself -- the people she wouldn't have chosen to have met any other way, at any other time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the middle of the night  
> When I'm in this dream  
>  **It's like a million little stars**  
>  Spelling out your name  
> You gotta come on, come on  
>  **Say that we'll be together**  
>  Come on, come on  
> Little taste of heaven
> 
> \----------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> If you've reached up until this point, congratulations for having a lot of patience! Kidding aside, thank you so much for taking your time to read my first experiment in the _oblivious friendships and then they become lovers_ area with (two of) my favorite ships, as well as using **THE** Taylor Swift songs that were assigned to me by Laura as backbone of the whole plot!
> 
> I am glad to have ended this fic on a happy note, as it is what all ships deserve. <3
> 
> Kudos and comments are very well-appreciated. Once again, thank you!


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